Talk:Bertie Wooster

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[edit] Bertie's wealth

Yes, Bertie's family is filthy rich. However, Bertie does not have to rely on an allowance from his Aunt Agatha. Rather, as stated in several places in the stories, Aunt Agatha's hold is only her innate dominance and fierceness. Bertie states categorically that she does not hold purse strings. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.42.37.18 (talk) 22:23, 23 October 2003

[edit] Bertie's Family

Resolved. Bertie's aunts are the sisters of his late father.

I'm not totally certain about the family as currently stated in the article. I was given to understand that Tom Travers is Bertie's uncle by blood (the brother of his mother, née Travers), and so Aunt Dahlia is his aunt by marriage. I'm also under the impression that Aunt Agatha was the sister of Bertie's father, though I'm not so sure about this latter point. Has anyone got anything to dismiss/corroborate these ideas? OnyxOnline 13:11, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

I'd have said Dahlia was the blood relative myself, given Bertie's means of addressing her, notably "old thicker than water", "old ancestor" and so on. I forget the exact instances of those particular phrases being used, but his conversations with her are generally peppered with similar phrases, and I find it a bit odd to think he'd call a mere relative by marriage "thicker than water", a phrase traditionally used to refer to blood. I may well be wrong though; I'm no expert on Wodehousian geneology. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.29.41.127 (talk) 23:14, 4 August 2007

As mentioned in the article (at least now) Bertie's aunts are the sisters of his late father, thus blood relatives, see for instance Jeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 12. Tom Travers is also independently described as an uncle by marriage, same book, chapter 19. — Komusou talk @ 19:43, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lord Yaxley

What of Bertie's uncle George Wooster, later Lord Yaxley? Where does he fit in? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.247.240.152 (talk) 17:35, 20 November 2005

[edit] Spineless invertebrate?

Resolved. "spineless invertebrate" is quoted from Wodehouse.

Isn't it redundant to say "Aunt Agatha ... considers him a spineless invertebrate", or does this phrase come from Wodehouse? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.159.192.10 (talk) 15:21, 23 August 2006

Not redundant because it's indeed a quote, e.g. in "Jeeves Takes Charge" -- but this should have been indicated with double quotes around it. — Komusou talk @ 19:46, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
I was unaware when I removed it that it was a quote, I have no opposition to its current display. -Kirkoconnell 23:15, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Jeeves

Resolved. Bertie was 24, text was amended to remove ambiguity.

In the section "Jeeves", it is stated that Bertie hires Jeeves when he is 24. This is unclear. Was Jeeves 24, or Bertie? Xiong Chiamiov 19:46, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Bertie was 24 one/zero 06:19, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quick note on my revert

Just to say - I meant all very POV, of course. Anyhow- very debatable. Schissel | Sound the Note! 16:32, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

For the record (or the annals, if you wish), the above refers to this revert by Schissel. (No disagreement from me.) — Komusou talk @ 20:07, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Girl Genius Reference?

In Girl Genius there's a butler-ish English character named Wooster. Is this an obvious reference to (and subversion of) this story, or is it merely coincidence? Kilyle 12:53, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Prolly not a coincidence since he also have a character and novel named Psmith. I've documented that in a short para at Phil Foglio so as to fend off trivia items inserted at the Wodehouse articles. — Komusou talk @ 15:21, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Upjohn, Darts, Glossop etc

No article on Bertie can fail to mention his unhappy childhood experiences as a student at the preparatory school (Malvern something) run by the Rev. Aubrey Upjohn. Much later Bertie runs into Upjohn at Brinkley owing to Upjohn's stepdaughter Phyllis being Aunt Dahlia's god-daughter.

Bertie is a 'snip' at dart throwing, and one of the top seeds for the annual contest at the Drones. Once, Stilton Cheesewright is forced to go easy on Bertie after he (Stilton) draws Bertie's name in the darts sweep.

Mention should also be made of Bertie's evolving relationship with Sir Roderick Glossop, the eminent 'nerve specialist'. On several occasions Glossop is convinced that Bertie's sanity is less than perfect, especially with reference to Bertie's engagement with his own daughter Honoria. On another occasion Bobbie Wickham persuades Bertie into mistakenly piercing Sir Roderick's hot-water bottle. Eventually Bertie and Glossop get to know each other better, culminating in the hilarious story where Glossop takes temporary employment at Brinkley as the butler Swordfish.

Another Glossop who is an inseparable part of the Bertie saga is Tuppy (Sir Roderick's son), who infamously loops the last roman ring over the Drones swimming pool so that Bertie is forced into a ducking in full evening dress. In the hot-water bottle incident described above, Bertie believes it is Tuppy's h.w.b that he is piercing as revenge for the swimming pool perfidy.

Bertie has a sister who is married to a civil servant or somebody serving in India. This sister has two little daughters, and in one of the few stories to be narrated by Jeeves, Bertie's searing experience delivering a speech at a girls' school makes him drop the idea of having his nieces spend a summer with him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.164.28 (talk) 17:57, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

Resolved. Down links restored via cached copy of Archive.org until site is back.

The BBC web pages that the external links point to, no longer exist. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.167.1.141 (talk) 06:05, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

I've removed them. BBC says it is "refreshing" the comedy guide; when it returns, we can link to it. - DavidWBrooks 11:58, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
I have restored them in cached copies. Please, don't delete good links when you have Archive.org – see WP:EL#Longevity of links and WP:REF#What to do when a reference link "goes dead" about using the Wayback Machine and Webcite. — Komusou talk @ 13:30, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wodehouse's Inspiration

Norman Murphy, in his book Wit and Wisdom of P.G. Wodehouse, argues that Wooster is likely based on George Grossmith Jr. Any thoughts on whether/how to incorporate this fact? Mgriffin (talk) 20:04, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008)"

What's wrong with some people in here? Bertie Wooster is one of the world's most well-known literary characters. Mr Wodehouse's books are available everywhere, some of the stories are published on the Net. A complete list of Jeeves & Wooster stories are linked to this page. Those mean little creatures who might doubt any of the information on this page, could very easily check it on the basis of information already given. Could someone please stop those ignorant freaks who pester Wikipedia with demands for references that's completely unnecessary? Unnecessary references should be avoided; references should be restricted to issues that are not evident, is disputed, or at least are not verifyable through a simple web search. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.104.166.58 (talk) 21:02, 5 June 2008 (UTC)